One Sky to Bring Us Together
by ForeverFallen304
Summary: Irvine falls into Radiant Garden. After being found and taken care of by Aerith, he is reunited with Squall after all this time. Soon he will meet a certain blond who also has feelings for his childhood friend. What'll happen? Irvine x Squall/Leon x Cloud
1. Chapter 1: Reunion

Well I think the idea for this story kinda just came from me being in a really SquallxIrvine mood xD thus begun this story!

Currently is a oneshot unless people enjoy it and would like to see more.

Lovingly edited by: SilentStarSong ;D love ya

Just to warn you...in the end I kinda went _really_ sappy xD

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 1: Reunion

It was a beautiful clear-blue-sky kind of day, in Radian Garden. The temperature was warm and the breeze light… It was a lovely day, thought a kind brunet woman, dressed in her regular pink attire, as she left Merlin's house with her empty basket to go shopping in the market place.

Yes that had been her initial plan, as she entered the market place, stopping to kindly to greet Scrooge, but as she turned from Scrooge to the commotion ahead she noticed a light appearing in the sky, at first glimpse it looked as if a star was falling but as the star grew in size, and appeared to be falling towards them, her option changed.

_What could that be…?_

She thought to herself as some of the town's people rushed hastily by her to leave the market place for safety, she presumed, as she looked on with a few other bystanders.

It took less then half a minute for the large glowing object to crash into the center of the market place. A large cracking sound was heard at initial contact of glowing object hitting the hard rock ground. At that, the brunet woman rushed to the balcony edge to see for herself what that falling star really was. She noticed almost all of the light had dissipated and in its place, on the cracked rock ground of the market place, was a man!

"Oh, no." she gasped as she dropped her basket and rushed down the stairs quickly to help the man, ignoring the calls of the towns people to _wait, stop, _and _not go over there,_ for her own safety. Yes she understood that, but this man wasn't a threat to her or any of the other people, if anything, he needed help, that is if…he was even still alive after such a landing.

She stopped, just in front of him, to take in the absence of the light and the large, almost circular crevice, left from his impact to the ground. Apprehension filled her chest as she slowly knelt down beside the still man. She looked him over: he appeared to be very tall, he was dressed in khaki pants and a long khaki coat that went almost past his knees, he had long auburn hair, pulled back in a ponytail, and a black cowboy hat settled at the top of his head. She had never seen such an array of clothing before; she did not know this man. She slowly reached forward and gently touched the auburn man's back, "Excuse me…?"

Nothing: no reply, no movement, she wasn't even sure if the man was still breathing.

Hastily, she moved to the man's side and began to push him onto his back. It proved to be a challenge but she managed to finally get the man onto his back. Her breathing became slightly labored and she settled back onto her knees to give the auburn man a second look over. But his face caught her off guard, and gathered her full attention: he was stunning.

His face was as beautifully masculine as it were feminine, he had soft yet strong features, and his skin appeared to be very soft. She reached forward and moved his long bangs that extended as long as his jaw line, out of his face to gently stroked his check. Yes, his skin was quite soft. Then she pulled away from him, a surprised gasp almost leaving her lips a she noticed something else about the auburn man's face. His lips…they were parted and ever so slightly moving. A small smile graced her features as she realized: _he's breathing…_

He was still _alive_! She was so relived. But…her smile left her quickly as her gaze lowered from his face to his chest. The vest he wore under his khaki coat appeared to be purple but because the vest was so heavily coated in blood that it was just as hard to tell the color of the vest as it was to tell if the blood itself was new or old.

She frowned and hastily began to work on undoing the buttons of the man's vest to see how bad his wounds were. Because his vest was low cut she could already see fresh cuts and bruises but she knew even before she touched his vest and got her hands wet with the blood soaked into it, there was much more damage that needed tending.

After opening the vest she had to cover her mouth from the shock of what she saw. There were many wounds covering the poor auburn man's chest, some where poorly rapped or stitched. The man obviously either had little experience with tending to such wounds or had no time to care for them accurately for he must have been in constant danger…

But there were still more new wounds, cuts and gashes, which were fresh, still bleeding, still needing to be tended too. _What happen to this poor man? Where could he have been before that was so dangerous? _The pretty brunet thought as she hovered her hands over the man's more fresh wounds, stopping the bleeding, and healing them.

She didn't even want to risk trying to tend to his other wounds, which were probably very infected and needing of treatment, while they were still in the streets. She looked to the auburn man's face. She needed him to wake up; she needed to get him home but--what about the rest of him? She once again realized the impact he had had with the ground; he must have had some broken bones, but where?

She started at his legs and made her way up. Gently feeling his body, looking for any unusual movements within the bones, anything that could suggest or prove a break. But she found nothing. Astonished but not allowing that to distract her, she moved back to the man's head and gently lifted it onto her lap, and began to gently tap his face, "_Please_…please wake up! I need you to wake up so I can take you home…_please_, wake up!"

The auburn man slowly began to stir and relief flooded through the brunet as she saw the auburn man's eyes open for the first time. They were a beautiful deep blue, so deep they could be mistaken for a violet if one wasn't paying close enough attention.

His eyes wandered around before settling on the beautiful woman's face above him.

_Who…?_

The woman caught the uncertainty in the beautiful auburn man's eyes and smiled at him, "Hello, my name is Aerith. Do you know where you are?"

The auburn man looked about himself again before looking back to the woman shaking his head no. She smile again at him, "This is Radiant Garden." Aerith waited to see if the information she had given the man meant anything to him. He just stared at her dumbfounded, not seeming to recognize the world's name. Her smile fell and she looked at him sympathetically, "What's your name?"

The auburn man blinked and finding his voice, replied softly, "_Irvine_…" he stopped and cleared his throat, "Irvine Kinneas."

"Irvine…" the beautiful woman, known as Aerith, repeated softly as she turned her head away from him. She seemed to be fussing with something at her side…

Aeirth was silently thanking Shiva -no… Leon, for his constant worrying over her and her safety, whenever she would leave the house for earns or whatnot. For if it wasn't for that, she wouldn't have brought anywhere near the amount of potions she had brought today, if any…

"_Remember, Aeirth. Never forget to keep a good supply of potions on you whenever you go out. It's for your own safety. You never know when the security system could malfunction and then you would have no protection against the heartless."_

Leon refused to listen to her comment on how she could defend herself just fine against the heartless and concluded with, _"Look Aeirth this is your choice. Either carry the potions or don't leave the house. And if I catch you out without any I will drag you back here and supply you personally with potions. End of discussion." _

It was late one night when they had this discussion. They were alone and Leon seemed to have a lot on his mind. He never wants to admit when he worries -but he does. All the time_­_ and mostly about them…

But it was not time to dwell on that, she thought as she grabbed a few potions from her pouch for the beautiful and injured auburn haired man known as Irvine. She just made sure to make herself a personal note to thank Leon later, for his constant lecturing.

Turning back to Irvine she smile and said, "Alright, Irvine. I'm going to have you drink a few of these potions and they should help you recover enough strength to make it back to Merlin's… my friend's house."

Irvine nodded in confirmation but still had to wonder _why_ this Aerith woman was going out of her way to help _him_. A total and complete stranger, someone she knew nothing of, nor owed anything…it had been _so long_ since he had been around such a _kind _and _nurturing _person, he wondered briefly if he was dieing. It had been _too _long…but he pushed his uncertainties away as a vile was pressed to his lips and his head was elevated as he drank.

_-oOo-_

Five potions later, and still Irvine appeared to be very weak.

Aerith sighed, there was nothing more she could do until they got back to Merlin's. Placing the final vile to the ground, she turned to Irvine.

"I'm sorry but that's all the potions I have on me." She paused and waited for Irvine to nod in understanding before she went on to ask hopefully, "Do you think you can walk?"

Irvine closed his eyes and after a moment moved to get into a sitting position. Aerith moved behind him, incase he fell, watching him closely as he sat up. The movement seemed to have cause Irvine pain from his facial expression, but he said nothing of it.

Irvine looked around at his surrounding, before his attention was caught by something a few feet away by the fountain.

Aerith moved to Irvine's side and tiled her head to get a better view of his face as she asked, "Are you in pain?"

Irvine didn't turn to her as he replied, "No…"

After a pause he finally turned to her, his eyes holding emotion she could not read. "Could you get that for me?"

He asked her, pointing a good couple feet away towards the fountain of the market place. Aerith noticed then that there was an object within the pool of water. Her eyes did not leave the object as she rose replying with a simple "Yes." to Irvine as she passed by him walking towards the cascading waters to retrieve whatever it was within it…

Aerith paused when she got there, amazed, slightly, to find a simple shotgun within the waters. She bent to her knees slowly and retrieved the bloodstained weapon from the waters but stopped after doing so to notice the blood had all but left the weapon and fell into the water.

She smiled slightly, _Good as new…_

She lifted the weapon and turned to restore it back to its rightful owner.

Her smile fell as she approached the auburn man; he was looking very distressed, eyeing the gun helplessly, his beautiful eyes never left it even after she had placed it into his hands. He gripped it tightly, securely, as though he was afraid it may abandon him again if he didn't do so. He mumbled a thanks as Aerith watched him sadly.

She closed her eyes after a moment of feeling helpless to aid this poor man and made a silent prayer: she prayed, that like his gun, Irvine could be cleaned all the blood and torment that had ravaged not only his body but his soul too…his heart needed love and protection so it could heal…she truly hoped the someone would be able to help him. She would try, she hoped the others would too, and most of all she would pray for the day she would see that beautiful man's smile and know he was whole again…if only everything worked as easily as a prayer…

_-oOo-_

"We're here."

Aerith said and she abruptly stopped walking. Irvine lifted his head to see a small slightly run down house in front of him. He didn't know what to think; mostly he believed he may have still been laying on the streets of Dark City, dying… Well…at least this hallucination was peaceful…

Aerith adjusted her hold on Irvine to get a better look at him,

"Irvine? Are you alright?"

Hearing the kind woman's soft voice he turned to Aerith, a bit of guilt still riddling him; whether what was happening now was real or not, he still felt awful that this tiny woman was supporting his weight, but…he was still so weak…

"Yeah…Yeah I'm fine. Lets just get inside." _Before I break you…_

Aerith moved to the door, helping Irvine along the way. She pushed the door open and yelled for some assistance, "Cid, Merlin, Yuffie!? Is anyone home!?"

Cid came to the door way as Aerith and Irvine were entering the house.

"Whoa there, what was the racket--Who's this?" Cid asked eyeing the tall man.

"Cid please, will you help him to the couch?" Aerith asked starting to struggle to hold up auburn man.

Cid grumbled something to himself but moved to Irvine's other side and took an arm over his shoulder and rapped his own around the other man's waist.

"C'mon now cowboy."

Cid mumbled lowly and he led Irvine to the coach, lowering him slowly onto it. Irvine groaned in pain, dropping his gun to the ground, and moved to lie down.

"Oh! No Irvine, not yet. Sit up, please. Cid? Help me with his coat?"

They ended up pulling Irvine back to his feet, for his coat was so long he was sitting on it. Cid held Irvine securely around the waist as Aerith removed the khaki coat and the open bloodstained vest. Irvine gasped as pain flooded through him at the feel of the fabric brushing against his aching wounds. He refused to scream though and only closed his eyes tightly and raised his head to face the ceiling, waiting for the pain to subside.

Aerith did not plan to find the inner lining of the khaki coat to be lined with so much blood, but she should have know better. For the coat was so thick blood wouldn't have soaked through, but the puncture holes in the back of the coat should have told her better but she had ignored them at the time. She frowned at the site of Irvine's back, dripping with old blood.

She turned to Cid,

"Cid help him sit back down. I'm going to go take care of his cloths and get some water and bandages to clean him up."

Cid only turned to her, nodding slightly. Then turned to Irvine and mumbled something to him to get his attention as he moved to set him down again to the coach.

-oOo-

Pain, so much splintering pain was flooding through Irvine as Areith removed his old rappings and stickings. She cleaned and sanitized his wounds that had been gravely infected. Though he knew she was healing him, the pain of it was killing him. He had his eyes closed as he pressed his head back into the couch, trying to ease the pain as a rough hand gripped the back and side of his neck and eased him forward, pressing a vile to his lips. Irvine trusted it was another potion and began to drink from it. He felt his body begin to heal itself but then something began to tear the freshly healed tissue and a sharp pain rocked through Irvine as he pulled his mouth away from the vile and began to cry out in pain as he grabbed at his side, where an old wound had begun to heal.

"What's wrong with him?!" asked Cid, who had jumped at the sudden shriek that had escaped Irvine a moment ago.

Aerith was in shock, she couldn't understand what was happening but she turned to Cid quickly,

"Cid, hold him down! He's going to hurt himself!"

Cid quickly moved to Irvine and held him down to the couch by his shoulders. Aerith gathered herself quickly a moved to cup Irvine's cheek, trying to give him some comfort as she asked,

"Irvine, what is it? What's wrong with your side?"

Irvine seemed to have calmed slightly but just then he jerked into another spasm of pain as he gripped at his side and cried out.

Irvine couldn't understand it; there was something inside him, he knew that, but what he couldn't understand was when the pain did finally subside why it felt like his wound was reopened and the same initial pain would once again flood through him. All this pain, all his pain he had long grew immune to, was becoming recognized throughout his entire body…it was too much, he thought he might faint.

"Irvine what is it?!"

"M-my side! It hurts! Something…something's in there! It won't…won't stop… its tearing me… tearing me up…_inside…_" his voice became faint and Irvine began to fall into darkness…

Realization flooded through Aerith, "Irvine! Irvine! Stay awake, hold on!" Aerith moved to stand and rushed off.

"Hey! Where you goin!?" Cid called through a panic that came through his usually irritated tone.

"I'll be right back! Stay with him Cid!" Aerith called from another room.

Cid looked off in the direction Aerith had gone a moment longer before turning back to Irvine.

He wasn't looking good. He was pale and his breathing had begun to slow. Cid removed the hat, he had found silly, from the top of Irvine's head and placed his freehand atop the mess of dampened auburn hair as he comfortingly stroked it.

"Hey… hey kid… Come on…"

Nothing, it appeared Irvine had blacked out, but his breathing remained steady. Cid looked to the young man sympathetically.

"Hang in there, kid…"

Aerith rushed back to them with a scalpel and a few other objects used for surgical purposes that Cid couldn't identify. Aerith sat back down at Irvine's side, placing her tools onto the table and then turned to Irvine placing a hand to his head to take his temperature.

"What are you planning to do with those?"

Aerith looked to Cid for a moment then returned her attention back to Irvine and began to clean his still partly open wound at his side. "I'm going to have to reopen this wound and remove whatever is causing him so much pain…I think there's something in there that's keeping the tissue from healing."

"Aerith…are you sure you know what your doing?"

"I…I really have never done anything like this in the past but –I don't really have a choice. He can't heal with that in him…he may die…" Aerith quickly blinked away her tears and turned to grab a few tools.

"Hold him down, Cid. I'm sure this is going to wake him up."

-oOo-

Cloud came through the door to Merlin's nonchalantly, never looking up as he came in and closed the door softly behind him, "I'm back-"

A loud deafening cry cause Cloud to jump back and grasp his sword in a ready stance to attack who or whatever it was causing someone so much pain. Then looking ahead found…it was Aerith who was causing this person so much agony.

Cloud blinked a few times and composed himself before moving from the door over to the pair, one on and one near, the couch. Then, as he got closer, noticed Cid also within the mess of blood and agony of the man on the couch. Cloud could only blink and look on as Cid held the screaming man down and Aerith removed a large piece of glass from the man's side.

"There…" Aerith sighed with relief, placing the glass and the tool she used to extract it, onto the nearby table. Then before turning back to the distressed man, she grabbed a high potion from the same table.

"Now Irvine," She said soothingly to the now only groaning man on the couch. "We're all done. All you need to do is drink this for me and it'll make you feel much better, so you can rest."

The man identified now as _Irvine_, opened his eyes slightly looking from Aerith to the vile she was holding and closed his eyes again, only nodding in response. Aerith smiled slightly, looking more relived, as she placed the vile to the man's lips and he drank from it slowly but willingly.

Cloud watched as the wound sealed itself more with every sip this _Irvine _took, wondering to himself, just _who_ this man that Aerith had brought into their house to save was. What kind of person was he? And was it the best idea to save him? Cloud only sighed and placed a hand to his forehead knowing all to well how Aerith would never judge anyone in need before helping them, but when he looked back to the vulnerable man on the couch realized he felt no threat coming from the man. That this man appeared to be one of them, just as lost in life and darkness…just trying to survive. But he would test out his logic after this man was up and about again. To make certain this man was no threat to them.

"There…he's asleep." Aerith said removing the vile from the man's lips and turning to Cid with a smile. Cid gave a slight relived smirk in return. Then, glancing over Aerith shoulder, noticed Cloud and remark to Aerith, "Looks like Spiky is back."

Aerith turned to Cloud surprised but then smiled to him, "Welcome home."

"_Yeah…_" was all Cloud replied looking to the side, and then turning back to the auburn haired man asked, "So, who's _this_?"

Before Aerith could open her mouth to reply the door slammed open and Yuffie appeared. "Hey everyone! I'm ho-mMM!"

Aerith had rushed over and covered Yuffie's mouth, not wanting her to wake Irvine.

"Shh…" Aerith released Yuffie, who only pouted and placed her firsts onto her hip replying, "And why do I have to be quiet?"

"Because _he's_ sleeping." Aerith said, gesturing over to the auburn man on their couch that Cid was currently covering with a warm blanket.

Aerith blinked at the empty spot where Yuffie was a moment ago before turning to find that she had already made her way over to the sleeping man and was hovering over him.

"Oooohhhhh, who's _this_?" Yuffie cued over the sleeping man before turning her attention back to the others for an explanation.

Cid and Cloud turned to Aerith in unison. Yuffie shifted her gaze to Aerith as well, expecting that she must have held the answers to all of their questions.

Aerith smiled uneasily and shifted before responding, "Well...Actually, I don't have any idea _who_ he really is."

At the response, a feeling of uneasiness settled over them all.

-oOo-

_"Soo, what're are we gunna to do with him?"_

_"Leon will know. We'll wait for him and see what he thinks."_

_"...Why is everything always put on Leon?"_

_"'Cause, kid, he's a good decision maker, whether he likes it or not."_

At the sound of the front door opening Aerith moved from the table and left the others as she went to greet whom she assumed to be Leon, at the door.

"Welcome home, Leon." Aerith greeted the brunet as he came through the front door. Shutting the door behind him he turned to Aerith, "Hey …is something wrong?" he asked after looking from Aerith's nervous face to the others uneasy expressions.

"What happened?" He asked with an undertone that demanded an answer.

"Heh, well…you see…" Aerith began nervously.

"Aerith brought home some strange half dead guy she found in the market place!" Yuffie cut in after slamming one hand against the table and using her free hand to point accusingly at Aerith.

Leon looked around at the other in the kitchen. Cloud was leaning against a wall near the table, while Cid sat at the table glaring at Yuffie for her little out burst, but after a moment all eyes returned to him, including Aerith's as she looked up at him, timidly, from under her bangs.

"Really now… Is that what happened, Aerith?" Leon asked inquisitively.

Aerith sighed, "Well I guess in a _very _over-summarized-way …yes."  
"Alright…" Leon began to scan the room, "I'm assuming you want me to check him out? Make sure he's safe?"

"Yes…but really Leon, I think he's a really kind man. I don't think he's a threat to us. So please don't –" Aerith stopped herself when she noticed Leon's eyes had stopped their search and they grew wide in disbelief and shock.

"_Irvine…?_" Leon said barely above a whisper.

Aerith turned and notice Irvine had woken up from his nap and was currently sitting up, using one arm a leverage as he used his other to examine his now healed and bare chest. After feeling down his torso and realizing he was fully restore to health, he looked up to hopefully find Aerith to thank her. But when he did look up a certain brunet behind her caught his attention, his breath hitched, his train of thought died, and his heart rate decreased.

_That scar…those eyes…it couldn't be…it couldn't…_

Aerith looked between the two lost "Leon do you…?" Leon breezed by her quickly not allowing her to finish her question. He moved straight for the couch, straight for Irvine.

"_Sq-Squa-_mph!"

Before even being able to get his name fully out, Squall had pulled Irvine into a strong embrace.

"_Squall…_" Irvine said instantly. Feelings drowning him, pulling him into oblivion: His smell, his warmth, that scar, the embrace, it all pointed to it being _him_.

"_Irvine…_" Squall breathed into his ear. He shivered. _That voice…_

"Squall…" Irvine tried to pull back. He needed to see the face close up. He just had to make sure it wasn't a lie, wasn't a dream or reverie. He _needed_ to know…

Squall released him enough for Irvine to lean back and see his face, while leaving his hands lock on Irvine's arms.

For a long moment they just stared at each other…into each other.

_Those storming grey/blue eyes…_

_Sapphire sky blue eyes…_

_Silky brown hair…_

_That long auburn hair…_

_That face…_

_Skin…_

_It's him…_

They pulled each other into another warm embrace. Holding each other, touching the others hair, feeling them, cooing each other ever so softly, lovingly. For a moment they were the only two left in the world. It was as though everything and everyone had fallen into a backdrop, and they were surrounded by only their thoughts, feelings, memories, and each other…

They both wanted to question the other. Both wanted to speak their own heart's cries of remorse, their own heart's joys of pure laughter. They wanted time to stop. They didn't want this dream to end. This one wish… they never wanted to be apart again.

* * *

Well? Did you like? hate? neutral ?

Q._Where would the story go if continued?_

A. It wouldn't remain all sappy as this chapter had ended. It would start off with Irvine and Squall catching up with eachother, learning where each has been for these past years. After that the story will also go through Cloud's point of view; being in love with Leon for quiet some time but never being able to express it and now having competition is making him both frustrated and scared of losing any chance with Leon he might have had before this_ Irvine_ showed up.

If you find the story interesting and would like me to continue it, please let me know.

Thank you for reading :)


	2. Chapter 2: Lovers and Friends

**Disclaimer: **All the characters in this story belong to Square Enix.

Hey everyone! I know its been a while since I've updated at all and I'm sorry about that xD lack of inspiration. Hopefully those of you who liked this story so far will enjoy this new chapter.

Thank you for the reviews: AnsemMesna, , Kareia, and Resoan. I really appriciated them. :)

And thank you to everyone else who is reading this story.

Now lets see if I can update some other stories as well...

Well anyways, enjoy! :D

* * *

Chapter 2: Lovers and Friends

They held each other, for what felt like forever and at the same time, not long enough, before they were brought back to their surroundings when the front door slammed loudly, causing Irvine to jump and Leon to look back.

"What was that?" Leon questioned, with his usual demanding tone.

"Um…that was Cloud." Yuffie replied uneasily as Aerith and Cid continued to watched to door. Cid looked after where Cloud had gone in confusion, while Aerith looked on anxiously. Yuffie stood rubbing the back of her head, looking to Leon with an uneasy smile.

Leon wondered briefly why Cloud had left so abruptly and loudly; the second was very unlike him. But these thoughts were blown away when Irvine suddenly clung closer to him, causing Leon to automatically return the embrace, protectively.

"_Did I do something to upset him_?" Irvine asked, barely above a whisper, into Leon's shoulder.

Leon turned to Irvine and pulled him back so he could look into his eyes. When their eyes met, Leon touched Irvine's face and stated, "You did nothing wrong. Alright?"

Irvine nodded, leaning into Squall's touch, just praying the heat from Squall's hand was real. He still felt so weak. He had trouble focusing on what was real.

Then he felt Squall's lips on his, and nothing else mattered.

Squall held the other's face gently between his hands as he began to lovingly caress Irvine's lips with his own. Their lips moved as they had long ago, oh it seemed like such a long time ago…

Squall then licked at Irvine's lips, sensually, causing a surprised gasp from Irvine, which Squall took it as consent to slipped his tongue into Irvine's warm mouth. Then, as their tongues first made contact, Irvine started to tremble from the intense range of emotions he felt at the contact, almost causing him to pull away. Squall dove his tongue deeper into Irvine's mouth, twining their tongues together erotically, kissing him in a desperate passion.

Irvine immediately fell submissive under Squall's affection. It was unlike him, but he needed this sign of affection, he needed Squall to show him his love.

Irvine moaned from the pressure of their lips being pressed together along with the strong hurricane of emotion coursing through his frame. He held onto Squall's shoulders and fell into oblivion.

"Ahem!" A loud clearing of the throat broke them apart. Sending Irvine blushing and, when he looked to the other, found Squall was turning red as well.

"Geez, you two. Get a room!" Cid called from the kitchen.

Yuffie was watching Cid with an amused look, as Irvine and Leon noticed, at the same time, that Aerith was standing by their side.  
She looked between them in obvious confusion. She paused before she spoke, "You…you two…_know_ each other?", she inquired through her confusion.

They nodded simultaneously but only Leon spoke, "Yes, Aerith. This is Irvine Kinneas. He was a close friend from my original world. We've know each other since we were young."

"Oh!" Aerith gasped excitedly, "Oh my -that's great! I'm so happy for you Irvine, Squall." She said to them, with a genuine smile.

_  
Maybe Irvine will be alright. _

Aerith thought to herself with hope.

_Maybe Leon will be the one to help Irvine. To heal him and make him smile again…_

She held her hands clasped, close to her chest, with her eyes closed, and a pure smile on her face. She really prayed she was right.

-oOo-

As dusk became dark, the lights in the little houses, all around Radiant Garden, began to glow.

And it was the same at Merlin's little house. Lights were aglow from the little building, as well as accompanied by a favorable chatter from within its walls. From the little kitchen is where the said chatter took place; for they had moved to there when the owner of the little house, Merlin himself, had come home.

They were all seated around the circular table, with the exception of Aerith, for she was cooking, and Merlin, for Yuffie had taken the only open seat next to the auburn haired visitor, besides the one Leon was occupying, and Merlin desperately wanted to learn more about the man who had fallen from the sky. So he stood, aside from the man and Yuffie, getting engrossed in any and all the details he was learning from the others. Then, when they ran out of answers, he looked to the said man himself.

"So, your name is Irvine."

Irvine nodded, a little unsure of the old man in front of him.

The old wizard smiled and said, "Well, my name is Merlin, and this is my house. I hope you feel welcomed."

Irvine, again, only nodded, still unsure how to act around these people he barely had been introduced to…and even so, they had been so kind to him, saving his life, healing him, still knowing _nothing_ about him. Only looking to him now for answers, not out of force or need, but through pure curiosity only. It made his heart ache. Such kindness…Did he deserve it? He wasn't sure…

Irvine looked at each of them, as he thought about all of this, and then sighed and said, "I'm sorry. I would like to thank you all for helping me earlier but…I seemed to have lost track of names…Missing some of them all together." he said with a helpless smile.

Aerith was the first to speak, though all the eyes of those around him had softened at his words. "Oh I'm sorry Irvine! Here…" she quickly wiped her hands off and moved to the table, behind Yuffie, and gestured to herself, "I'm Aerith Gainsborough. This…" she gestured from right to left as she introduced the rest, "Is Merlin, Yuffie Kisaragi, Cid Highwind and …the blond who left earlier, that was Cloud. Cloud Strife."

Irvine nodded and look to them all, "Thank you so much for your help." he looked to Aeirith, "Especially you Aerith. You saved my life. I am eternally grateful." Then he turned to Cid and gave a small smile, "And Cid…thank you for helping me too…"

Cid only grunted in response while Aerith gently hugged Irvine from behind.

"You're welcome Irvine." she said. Then releasing him, she returned to readying dinner.

Yuffie decided to break the unfolding silence herself, and began to speak, "Soo, Irvine! Where did you come from? Were you still in your own world before you ended up here? But I thought Sq-err Leon said it was taken over by heartless…So yeah, where?! Where were you before you fell form the sky? How did that happen anyways? Did you like fall out of a gumi ship or something? Is that even possible? Hey Leon do you think-"

"Yuffie!" they all yelled at her with the exception of Irvine. Who just looked a bit confused.

Leon touched his scar, out of annoyance, "One question at a time Yuffie, and address only one person at a time while you're at it."

Yuffie sighed, "Okaay, man you guys are so _touchy_! Anyways…Irvi! I can call you that right?" When Irvine gave her a slight nod she went on, "Soo Irvi, where did you come from?" Yuffie asked leaning foreword with her head resting in her palm, elbows on the table.

Irvine looked in thought for a moment, then looked around at everyone in the room, then brought his wondering eyes to a rest on Squall as he asked, "Why are they calling you Leon?"

Leon only blinked at first. Seeming taken aback from the question.

"Hey I asked a question first!" Yuffie yelled smacking her fist to the table.

Ignoring her, as everyone else was, Leon respond to Irvine with simply, "I just prefer it."

Irvine's face scrunched, "Prefer it? It's not even your name! Where did you…" Irvine's eyes widened with realization. "You took it from your last name, didn't you? …Why? Why wouldn't you want to be called Squall?"

Leon just closed his eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back in his chair, "Does it matter the reason?"

"Yes. Why would you make up new name? What was wrong with the old one?"

"Because I wanted to be separated from the man I used to be."

Irvine felt a sharp pain cross his heart, "…And what was so wrong with the man you used to be? What could you have possibly done that would make you regret it enough to need a new identity to separate yourself from it? What was so wrong with how things were Squall? What?"

Leon sighed shaking his head, "Nothing was wrong with the way things were, Irvine. It was-"

"Then what was it?!"

Leon stared at Irvine, really looking at him, and he saw how truly unstable his friend was. Leon wonder just _what_ had happen to Irvine when their world had vanished? At that thought, a bit of guilt struck him, for he was the reason Irvine was hurting now, was because he…

"I couldn't stop the heartless from destroying our world. I couldn't save our friends. I failed everyone… I didn't…couldn't go on with the guilt of all that. I couldn't put it behind me…so, I gave myself a clean slate in a way. I changed me name to separate myself from who I was: A man who failed everyone he had love and his entire world. For a man who had no past and wanted to make a future."

Irvine just sat there for a moment, the emotions coloring his face continued to change: confusion, hurt, anger, until it settled on an utterly lost expression that quickly began to bring the life out of the auburn haired man's face, as he asked, barley above a whisper, "…Then where does that leave _me_?"

Leon stared at his friend for a moment and realized how his words must have sounded.

If Squall was his past and Leon had absolved himself of that past, rejecting it all together. Then that would mean that Irvine would be nothing to Leon…and that wasn't true. He had said it wrong and he could tell from the look on Irvine's face, he had hurt him, dearly. Those sky blue eyes were dim now and Leon wasn't sure how to fix it, how to take back what he had said.

Luckily Aerith came over to break the tension, as she started to set down bowls of stew for everyone, "Time to eat guys."

When she set down Irvine's bowl she smiled at him and said, "Now make sure to eat your fill Irvine. You need to build up your strength."

Irvine didn't have much of an appetite, but he didn't want to hurt Aerith's feelings, so he nodded and began to slowly eat. However as soon as he had taken the first bite and tasted the deliciously thick and warm simmered dish, his appetite had returned and he gleefully ate. It had been a long time since he had had a good meal, eaten in a place where he could feel safe. It was also the first time he had had a real home cooked meal, well since the time he spent at the orphanage. A dark haired woman with kind eyes filled his mind and he smiled; Matron had been a good cook, or at least Irvine had thought so, but then again he had never tried another person's cooking until he had joined Galbadia Garden. But the food there was just cheap cafeteria food, even so, the other students had flocked to it like animals, leaving little for those who would arrive late. Irvine couldn't help but sigh at the thought of those students.

Irvine looked down to his empty bowl and realized how quickly he had eaten what he was given. It had been years since he had had a actual decent meal…in fact, Irvine couldn't recall the last time he had eaten before now. Had it been days? Weeks? He wasn't sure, everything was such a blur, covered by so much pain, restlessness, and fear…

He recalled his last day in Dark City, though it was always night there except for about 3 hours a day. He recollected laying weakly against the side of a building in a abandoned and filthy alleyway. He recalled looking to his hand as it dripped with blood, _his _blood. He had been filled with agonizing pain and was bleeding to death. He had been certain he was going to die then. That it was finally the end, and he was glad for it. But in the end, his instincts had failed him…for they had saved his life.

"Irvine?"

Irvine was brought back by the coo of his name through a gentle voice. He looked to find Aerith standing across from him at the table, looking to him worriedly but smiled when their eyes had met. "Would you like more?"

Irvine looked to empty bowl then back to her nodding, "Yes, if there's enough."

She continued to smile, "Yes plenty. Don't worry about that." she quickly moved to his side of the table, taking his bowl and filling it, then after returning the bowl to its owner, she proceeded back to her own seat.

Irvine began to eat his second bowl more slowly, his initial hunger cured. Now that he was outside of his own mind, Irvine began to notice the conversations that had been going on around him, mostly circling around Squ…_Leon_…

Aerith was asking him about his day as the raven haired girl, Yuffie, seemed to be throwing in a few side comments of her own, mostly to annoying the stormy eyed brunet. Merlin was also throwing in a few comments of his own, while Cid just enjoyed insulting Yuffie, which failed to ruffle the girl's feathers.

Irvine watched the exchanges around him with soft eyes. All their voices were so kind to his ears, so soothing and peaceful. He felt at ease with them. He felt more content now, at this moment, than he had in years.  
Though the words his friend had sad hurt him, he didn't think of it now. He'd had been in enough pain for the past 8 years, he could manage to leave his worries over the brunet for later.

As he returned to observing the others, someone called out his name to gather his attention. Irvine turned to the voice and found the strange old man looking at him, smiling as he started to curiously ask about the last world Irvine had been to. About its name and what it was like. Irvine tried to smile but it turned into a pained sorrow filled one that cause stormy eyes to look his way and Aerith to wave her hands at Merlin, signaling him to change the subject. Which he caught on and stopped, he apologizing to Irvine and began to casually tell him about Radiant Garden.

Irvine only nodded to all Merlin was telling him. He was eternally grateful for the change in subject. _Dark City_…he wasn't ready to talk about it just yet. He wasn't sure if he'd ever be…

_Hmm, a world called Radiant Garden…**Garden**…_  
Irvine smiled. It felt like home.

-oOo-

Dinner went by smoothly the rest of the evening. By the time everyone was finished, Irvine was certain he had everyone's name down as well as a few others had yet to meet. Like Tifa, Sora, Donald, Goofy…and Cloud.

_Cloud…_

From what he learned of Cloud tonight, the man didn't care to be around people much. He preferred solitude and refused to help out with the Restoration Committee that _Leon_ and the others had put together.

In ways, Cloud reminded him of how Squall used to be: so cut off from everyone emotionally, loathing to deal with other's problems.  
Squall changed when Rinoa managed to break through his ice shield and heart. He had begun to care more then but…Irvine really wasn't sure how different this_ Leon_ truly was from Squall…and to be honest he was a little scared to find out.

The evening was winding down. With the table cleared and Merlin in bed, the girls set about washing the dishes, as Irvine listened to _Leon_ and Cid discuss the town's security system and how they should improve it, while they continued to occupy their seats at the circular table.  
The conversation left Irvine a little lost but he was too mentally and physically exhausted to bother asking them to elaborate on it. So, instead, he took in what he could and let his exhaustion take him over as he let out a yawn and rested his head atop his arms on the cool table.

Yuffie happened to glace over at him and turned to face the rest of them as she dried a bowl asking, "Soo, where's Irvi gunna sleep tonight?"

Before anyone could respond, Leon spoke first, "He'll stay with me."

All eyes turned to Leon. Even Irvine sat back up to look at the man he once knew, in astonishment.

"But Leon, you only have one bed." Aerith pointed out as she dried her hands on  
Yuffie's towel.

"It's fine. It's large enough for two people."

"Barely!" Yuffie commented

Leon gave her a look and replied, "It'll be_ fine_. Plus I'd think he'd be more comfortable spending the night with me."

"Good point." Aerith agreed.

Yuffie sighed and turned back to the dish rack, "Whatever~"

Cid just grumbled and replied, "Just make sure to return my shirt in the morning…"

Irvine blinked and looked down at the shirt he had borrowed from Cid before they had moved to the kitchen earlier (which he recalled the man being quite annoyed about). It was a simple white t-shirt, just like the man had on now. Irvine gave a slight smile to the blond man, "Yeah, don't worry."

"Oh wait!" Aerith said as she rushed off into the other room. They all turned to Yuffie for an explanation. When she noticed their stares she only shrugged, shaking her head. A moment latter Aerith returned into the room with purple cloth in her arms and looked to Irvine with a smile, "You're shirt is clean and dry. You can change into this before you go."

"Yeah, go do that." Cid spoke from his seat, "Go get the hell out of my shirt."

Irvine looked to the older man surprised by his outburst. Had he offend Cid in someway?

Aerith only shook her head at the blond and looked to Irvine as she said, "Excuse Cid, Irvine, he's always like that."

"What the hell's that suppose to mean!?"

"Anyways," she said, ignoring the blond as she handed Irvine the shirt, "Why don't you go down the hall and change. Leon? Will you show him to the bathroom?"

Leon nodded and got to him feet, holding a hand down to Irvine to help him up. Irvine hesitantly took the offered hand and got to his feet and left the room with Leon, flushing, for the brunet never released his hand…

Leon opened the door to the washroom and Irvine looked around the inside. It was small but it had all the essentials: a toilet, a sank, and a stand in shower. The shower caught his eye and Irvine looked to Leon with begging eyes that caused the other's eyes to widen in surprise over the gaze, "May I…use the shower?"

Stormy eyes stared into sky-blue in understanding. The brunet nodded, "Go right ahead. Here, I'll show you how it works."

Again the brunet took hold of Irvine's hand, leading him into the bathroom and to the shower stall. Leon pulled back the curtain and proceeded to explain the controls. He showed Irvine where the soap and shampoo were and then left the shower running after he had hand tested the temperature and turned to Irvine letting him know he'd be back with towels. Irvine only nodded and watched him go, shutting the door behind him. Irvine shook his head, attempting the shake the nervousness off which he felt toward the brunet, and undressed. After making sure he set the blonde's shirt safely out of the way, he pulled the tie out of his hair, shaking his auburn hair out, and made his way under the warm wash. Irvine sighed in contentment as the warm water cascaded down his body. It all felt so good. There was to pain, no discomfort, no anxiety; only warmth, warmth and contentment. He could stand under that rinse forever, and then he'd be at peace…

Leon returned a few minutes later, setting the towels down at the edge of the sink and turned to the shower and listened. He didn't hear much movement going on and almost caught himself thinking the auburn man wasn't even in there.

"Irvine?"

The said man jumped in surprise at his name but sighed in relief when he recognized the voice. After catching his breath be responded, "Yes?"

"Make sure to hurry up before the warm water runs out. It only lasts about 10-15 minutes per hour."

"Oh…Alright, thanks Squa…err, thanks."

Leon frowned and turned to the door, "I'll wait for you outside."

The door shut and he was alone again in paradise. Well, a quickly ending paradise, for Irvine could already feel the water's warmth slightly lessen as every minute passed. He quickly moved to the shampoo graciously squeezed a good amount in his hand and began to run it through his hair and scrub it viciously. Gleefully, he rinse his hair, enjoying the clean feel of his hair as he ran his hands over it. Then he quickly turned and took the soap and continued to thoroughly wash himself, trying to beat the rapidly cooling water. Then just as the water dropped to a bitter cold, he was finished. Quickly, he shut off the water and leapt from the shower, wrapped himself in one of the towels the brunet had left for him. After recovering some warmth, Irvine removed the towel from his body and flipped his head forward as began to dry off his hair.

Finishing he dropped the wet towel to the side and taking the second towel, he finished drying off the rest of his body. He turned then to where he had left his clothes a found that they were gone, and in there place was a pair of pajama bottoms, boxers, and a long t-shirt. Irvine blinked at first in confusion, but then realized the brunet must have taken his clothes and left these for him. Shrugging off his confusion, he slipped into the clothes. Then, taking a hold of his boots and the discarded towels, he made his way to the door and out.

"Feel better?" a voice to the side of him asked.

Irvine nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound but then turned to his side and sighed, when he realized it was, again, only the brunet.

"Stop scaring me like that!" he sighed out in exasperation.

"Sorry." the man responded with little emotion. Then eyeing Irvine he commented, "You haven't put your boots on yet?"

Irvine blinked and looked from his boots to Leon and responded, "No, why would I? We're just going to your room right?"

"No, my house, though it's not much more than a room. Its just down the street, so you should throw your boots on, we'll be going when your ready."

"Oh…alright." Irvine looked from the boots he held in one hand to the towels he had in the other a little uncertain as to what to do with them.

The brunet saw this and took the towels from the auburn man.

"Um…thanks." When the man only nodded in response Irvine went on to ask, "So Cid's shirt…?"

"I already put it in the wash."

"My pants?"

"Same."

"Oh…thanks." Irvine responded looking down, then remembering something else looked up about to ask when simultaneously the brunet held up the purple vest.

"It's right here."

Irvine flushed, "Oh…okay."

"Go get your feet dressed."

Irvine nodded and walked passed the brunet and crossed the room to the couch and sat. He set down his boots and pulled sox out from them, which he realized weren't his own but someone else's clean sox, which he concluded the brunet must have given him as well. Unsure how to feel about all this kindness he was receiving from the man he thought might not want him, Irvine decided to shrug it off and began to pull on the clean sox and boots. Then looking around he happened to glance down at the spot he recalled dropping his faithful shotgun earlier, but the only problem was, it was gone.

**_Gone…_**

Ice flowed through his veins and froze him on the spot. Fear ripped through him and he began to tremble endlessly. Darkness, his eyes were pilling him into the darkness of Dark City. He was alone, he was unarmed, he was hurt, bleeding, a dark figure loomed near and knew it was going to be the end. No one could escape death twice.

The dark figure grabbed him by the shoulders, Irvine closed his eyes waiting for the blows, but when none came he opened his eyes and saw storm grey eyes with an unforgettable scar crossing between them.

_  
Squall…_

Then the world came back into focus. Squall was holding him, he was in Merlin's house, he was safe, there was no pain, no blood, it was all…_a memory._

"Irvine are you alright? Can you here me now?" Leon had felt the trembling subside when Irvine's sky blue eyes met his. Then he saw the eyes scan the room once before returning to his own , Irvine then responding with a slight nod and a relieved sigh, "Yes…It's alright, I'm fine…"

"What happened? What was wrong?"

Worried storm grey met uneasy blue.

"Please Squall, my gun…please find my gun."

Leon looked to him confused, "Your gun? Why?"

"Please, I just need it."

Leon saw the desperation in his friend's eyes, "Alright, where was it last?"

Irvine pointed to the spot at his feet, "I dropped it there when I was brought in here. It's **gone**." Irvine almost chocked on the word. He gun was missing, he was unarmed, though he knew he was safe, just the thought of being defenseless sent his body into tremors.

Leon, afraid to leave his friend like this, but wanting to find the gun for him quickly, called for Aerith.

She rushed in behind Leon as he continued to hold Irvine by his shoulders, trying to calm him down.

"What's wrong, Leon? What happened?"

Without looking away from Irvine the brunet spoke, "Aerith, Irvine said he dropped his gun here when he came in and now it's not here. Do you know who may have moved it or where it is now?"

"It's gone?" Aeirth asked surprised looking around the couch and table.

More tremors filled Irvine at Aerith's words.

"Go find it for me Aerith, and bring it here quickly."

Aerith rushed off to the kitchen to ask the others then rushed upstairs.

Irvine couldn't hear Leon's words of comfort, couldn't feel his hands on him, nothing. Though his eyes were locked with Leon's, he wasn't truly _seeing_ anything. Panic was rising at every second that passed. Though it had only been minutes, it felt like hours before the familiar weight was dropped into his hands. Irvine looked down to the precious weight and found his gun. He held it close, barely taking in the words being said above him.

"Where was it?" Leon asked, releasing Irvine's shoulders.

"Merlin had moved it, he was afraid of the gun laying around so he poofed it off somewhere and forgot where. It turned out to be in the hallway closet. I'm so sorry, Leon." She turned to Irvine, "I'm sorry, Irvine."

Irvine didn't hear her though. He just sat there, with his eyes closed and the gun held close. He was safe again. Everything was alright again. It was okay. It would be okay. He was okay.

A mixture of emotions coursed through Leon as he watched his friend: sadness for Irvine's pain, anger for what had happened to him, guilt for not being able to prevent it, and a few others he had trouble placing. He moved to his auburn haired friend and lifted him up into his arms.  
At the feel of his body leaving the cushions, Irvine looked up to find the brunet and noticed he was being held within his arms. He flushed deeply, unable to form words.

"Well be going now. Thank you for taking care of him, Aerith. Tell the others to get rest."

"You're welcome Leon, and yes I'll tell them you said good night."

Leon only grunted as he turned and walked to the door and left.

-oOo-

Leon's house was only a few houses away from Merlin's, and on the opposite side of the street. Leon hadn't been lying, though Squall never lied, so that would be the wrong word, perhaps over exaggerated would have been more it. But he hadn't, for the house was only a room large. A large room, but only a room. There was a bed in the far corner, against the far wall with a window over it, which Leon moved towards to set Irvine down upon. Irvine moved and began to remove his boots. Then looking to the side of him found a little nightstand close to the head of the bed, on top of it was a few blueprints and notes Leon must have left for himself. Irvine continued to scan the room.

To the far right was a closet, it was closed, and to its side was a dresser, which he watched Leon set his gun blade against. Irvine couldn't help but smile, it was something familiar, something that connected to the past, their past, to _Squall_.

Leon moved to the opposite wall, which the headboard of the bed leaned against, and hung up his coat up on a wall hanger along side three other coats. One had been _Squall's_.

Irvine found himself wondering just how much of Leon hated Squall or if not hated…how much he just didn't want to be the man… What was it with the brunet? All of this was causing Irvine a headache. If this _Leon_ was _Squall_ then that would mean Squall was having some identity issues or…_something_.

Irvine only sighed, he couldn't figure it out. Was Squall doing all this out of wrongly felt guilt? Or…something more?

Leon turned to Irvine when he heard him groan. "Something wrong?" he asked with an eyebrow raised but there was a hint of worry to his tone.

Irvine just looked up to him from his seat on the bed. His head was rested against his palm as he replied, "I just don't get it, Squall. Are you acting like this because you feel obligated to help me? Or does some part of in deep inside still hold feelings for me? Are you this_ Leon_ because you regret being Squall? Or are you just doing all this out of foolish guilt? Explain it to me again, _please_, because my head is starting to hurt trying to figure all this out."

Leon just looked at his friend for a moment. Before he spoke, he first thought through how to explain himself correctly. Then taking in a breath he responded, "Earlier…when I said _Leon_ had no past, I miss spoke. I didn't mean I regretted my past or had forgotten even a moment of it. What I meant was…after our world had disappeared, I couldn't go on, I couldn't face the people I met with all the guilt I held.  
"Squall Leonhart, SeeD, commander of Balamb Garden…failed everyone he had ever known, ever loved…people he had never met were dead because of him…_Squall_."

Irvine tried to speak up, most likely to disagree with him carrying this burden, but Leon held up a hand to keep him quiet and went on, "I wanted to become a different person, a better person. So I put a wall around my pain, to separate it from my mind. I met others who's worlds had also vanished. When they asked for my name…and I gave them Leon, which was neither Squall nor my mother's name, but someone who was completely alone but still was apart of Squall in a small way." Leon sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm probably not making any sense."

"…No" Irvine disagreed after a moment, "I understood, at least part of that… but, Squall, that wasn't your fault. You couldn't have stopped the heartless from what they did anymore than any of us were able too. You weren't fighting that battle alone, Squall, we were all with you. We fought together, we failed together. If your going to be blaming yourself for what happened, then you should throw some of that blame my way. You were our commander, yes, but that didn't make you any different than us. You were still a SeeD and so were we. No one expected more from you than you gave. Yes, I'm sure in end we were all hoping for a miracle but it wasn't you job to do that. You couldn't! You're only human…You were only 18... You cant blame yourself Squall, you just _cant…_"

Silence filled the room, and for a length of time, nothing was said. Finally Leon moved from the spot he stood, over to his dresser and pulled off his shirt. Irvine's breath caught in his throat at the site of Leon's tight chest. He wasn't the lithe teen he once was. _No_… Squall had grown into a man, and a gorgeous one at that.

Then suddenly, the kiss from earlier slipped into Irvine's mind and he couldn't help but wonder if the brunet truly still held feeling for him, or if what had happened earlier had been and uncontrollable rush from the past. He needed to know.

"Squall?"

The brunet had begun the task of removing the belts from his pants when he stopped and turned to the auburn-haired man with a questioning look. Irvine swallowed and asked, "About earlier today… When you kissed me…?"

Irvine watched as the red in Leon's cheek rose, trying to read the man.

"What did it mean? Was it just the shock of being reunited or…or do you still…?"

They had never said the words to each other. Irvine wasn't even sure if love was what pulled them together like this or not. Squall loved Rinoa, but he still spent nights with Irvine. Irvine cared for Selphie, but he couldn't keep away from Squall. Whatever they had back then, they were unable to ride themselves of, but now…Irvine knew it was still there, inside of himself, but, then again, he didn't know about Squall. Was he still feeling this invisible pull toward each other?

Squall turned away from Irvine, pulling off the last of his belts, setting them on top his dresser. Then, he turned to the auburn man and held out his hand. "Give me the gun, Irvine."

Irvine blinked and looked between Squall and the gun he held, then pulled the gun close to his chest protectively.

"Irvine, I want to set it here for the night. It wont go anywhere, I promise."

Irvine knew Squall always kept his promises, but the gun… "You never answered my question." Irvine changed the subject. It was pathetic, but it gave him more time.

"Give me the gun and you'll have your answer."

Irvine just stared at Squall's stern look, helplessly.

"I promise, it'll be right here when you wake up."

Irvine watched Squall for a moment. Then, being unable to doubt the man, he sighed. He gave one last longing look to his precious gun and handed it over to a man he loved.

He did love Squall, he knew that, and for a long time. But was he_ in love_ with Squall? That was the question Irvine always found himself unable to answer. Irvine could never pin down exactly what his feelings for the other man were, nor what feeling kept the other man by his side.  
_Was it still that strong?_

Irvine wondered as he watched the brunet set his beloved gun down onto the dresser beside the belts, and turn to move towards him. He received his answer as the brunet cupped his cheek in his right hand and kissed him deeply. The brunet pulled away and looked into sky blue eyes and said only, "I still do." Then he pulled the other man back to him in another deep, longing kiss as he used his free hand to move under the long white shirt to feel the body underneath. Irvine gasped from the touch which only encouraged the brunet further, as he moved his hands to lift the other further onto the bed. Squall laid Irvine in the middle of the bed and then positioned himself between the other's legs and leaned back down to continued kissing and feeling his past lover. Soon, clothing was left behind as the two reunited and rekindled their relationship through bringing each other to oblivion and back.

-oOo-

Bright light shined through the curtainless window onto the pale naked body of the man on the bed below. Irvine shifted and growled as the light hit his eyes, waking him instantly. Sky blue eyes opened to gaze out into the morning light.

_Morning…_

Irvine blinked the sat up looking about himself, relaxing slightly as he remembered yesterdays events and knew he was safe. The auburn man laid back for a moment taking in the room around him. He felt…no…he knew something was missing.

_Squall…_

His mind supplied him.

Yes…Squall was not here. So where…?

His question was answered when a small piece of paper on the nightstand caught his eye. He sat up and carefully took the paper into his hand and brought it close as he read.

_Irvine,_

_Sorry I left before you woke. I thought you could use the rest.  
I left to go get work done for the Restoration Committee.  
Stop by Merlin's and Aerith will make you something to eat. Also your clothes should be cleaned and dried by now so she'll give you those as well.  
You're free to do as you please for the day. If you want you can come work with me (Aerith should know my location). Otherwise I'll see you tonight at dinner, it'll be at Merlin's like yesterday._

_I'll see you soon._

Irvine smiled and set the note down. The brunet may not have signed the note_ Squall _but neither did he put_ Leon_… Maybe it was just from the pain from losing their world; the brunet's unnecessary guilt. Maybe it had nothing to do with their past…Well, after last night, it seemed Squall still felt the same as he used to.

Irvine felt warm…why was it knowing Squall still felt something for him did this? …It must be the feeling that you're _loved_. It had been _so_ long since he had felt that…

Irvine shook off his recollection and got to his feet, stopping suddenly as a sharp pain ran up his spin.

_Right…_

He thought with both annoyance and pleasure.

This what happened when he got bottom…

Irvine sat back down for a moment more before he finally got to his feet and moved to gather his clothing when he found them neatly folded at the side of the bed. Irvine smiled, Squall could be so thoughtful…

-oOo-

Though he had lunch, instead of breakfast, because of how long he had slept in this morning, Irvine was feeling full and satisfied. Now freshly showered and changed into his own clothing, he readied to leave Merlin's house. Saying his goodbyes to Aerith, he left and decided to pay a certain brunet a visit. But that plan was temporally postponed when he noticed a certain blonde against a building across the street from him.

_Cloud…_

This was the man he was unable to meet yesterday because of his quick retreat. Irvine desperately wanted to be on good terms with this man. Heck, he wanted to be on good terms with everyone Squall knew, but as he neared the blonde and his crystal eyes opened, he had a feeling the man did not feel the same.

Crystal eyes immediately set into a death glare, seeming to warn Irvine to** _back off_**.

A little nervous but still wanting to make friendly with the man, Irvine decided to still try.

"Hi. We weren't really able to talk yesterday… I'm Irvine Kinneas, an old friend of Squa…err, Leon's."

The blonde said nothing and only continued to glare.

Irvine swallowed, "You must be Cloud. I was wonder…"

Irvine cut himself off as the man suddenly turned, giving him the cold shoulder, and walked off leaving a feeling of animosity in his wake.

Irvine only watched the man go feeling as though it may be much harder than he had first thought to become buddy-buddy with this man who seemed to completely, and unexplainably, hate him.

* * *

Well, was it worth the wait? xD

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to review and tell me what you thought of it and/or if you have anything (ideas or requests) to suggest to the story.

Take Care All! :)


	3. Chapter 3: When Reverie Meets Antipathy

A/N: Wow 3 years? Its been 3 years since I've worked on the story. xD;; Well I am very sorry for anyone still watching this story for such a wait. If anyone if still waiting for this I hope you enjoy it. I feel as though I have my inspiration/confidence or something like that, back :) So I will be working on this story further.

For the reviews on my last chapter I would like to give special thanks to: Is-Simple, infinityinmirrors, PlayfulSylph, and Kareian

And thank you to everyone for their past reviews which were so sweet and reassuring. And thank you to everyone who has read.

Enjoy.

P.S. I walked through with Sora on KH2 to get the area names and to plan out the battle scenes with Irvine. So if all the random area changes are confusing I was going by the name changes per map that happened as you walk through different areas. I wanted to give the reader a better idea of what areas I was talking about and make sure I was accurate of which heartless would be around each area. I hope it helped. :)

* * *

Chapter 3: When Reverie Meets Antipathy

Aerith stepped out from Merlin's house to find Irvine staring off down the street with a mystified expression coloring his face.

"Irvine?"

Coming back to the present, he turned to the voice calling to him, he blinked then recognizing Aerith responded with a tender smile, "Hello Aerith."

She didn't smile back but continued to look at him with a concerned expression, "What were you doing? Weren't you going to go see Leon? You left at least 20 minutes ago."

"O-oh!" Irvine ran a hand through his hair, _I must have spaced out when he walked off like that… But that look… _he shivered at the memory of the glare Cloud had sent his way.

He cleared his throat, "U-uh well….I ran into Cloud and…well…" the auburn man laughed uneasily, "Well honestly…I don't think he cares for me all that much. Do you…think I did something to offend him?"

"I…I'm not sure. I mean." Aerith touched her forehead and sighed then looked back to Irvine with a small smile, "Don't mind him. He's always like that. Not a very warm person or a sociable one by nature. I hope he didn't say anything harsh."

"Well…the thing was, he didn't say a thing." Irvine returned, uncomfortably.

Aerith was quiet for a moment. Irvine looked to her and she seemed to be lost in memories.

"It's just the way he is… Don't worry about it Irvine. Go see Leon."

Irvine nodded and moved to go but paused and turned as he watched Aerith reopen the door to return inside of Merlin's house, "Hey Aerith?"

She paused and looked back to him.

"You…you've know him longer than this, haven't you? Is…Cloud from your world?"

His gaze was searching. It seemed almost as if he searching for more then just a yes or no response but Aerith couldn't understand the desperate expression in those sky blue eyes. So she responded simply, "Yes…yes we were." She gave Irvine a small smile,  
"See you at dinner." And with that, she closed the door.

Uncertain of what to think of this new knowledge, Irvine looked down to the mini map in his hand and began to make his way to the Hollow Bastion Castle corridors.  
He gripped his gun _Valiant_ for support and made his way forward.

-oOo-

The map was pretty straight forward up until Irvine reached the Bailey. Though the map was detailed up until the Restoration Site (which was confusing to say the least), he was thrown off sooner, quite literally, by a few heartless.

Once coming upon the Bailey he made it the first few steps without much trouble but the sound of the Claymores being activated from behind him caught his attention. Knowing now, from both Aerith and his own experiences on the way here, it was a warning that heartless were close. He spun around quickly, readily armed, but was taken off guard, for the heartless had already made the move to attack. All he saw was a glimpse of red and the force of the hit as he went flying off a crumbled edge of the Bailey, falling about ten feet to the ground. Though healed, he was still weak from the endeavors of yesterday, so he failed to catch himself and landed full force to the ground and his gun _Valiant_ fell from his hand and spun a good few feet away.

Irvine heard the sound of his gun hit the ground and looked up as it spun away. Shock overtook him for a moment, but only a moment, for he was in battle and couldn't let his anxieties take over. He looked over his shoulder quickly to notice it wasn't a Red Nocturne whom had knocked him down but a _Crimson Jazz_. Irvine quickly pushed himself to his feet and made his way to his gun, for it wasn't a regular sized heartless like the Red Nocturne, oh no, these Crimson Jazz were like King Sized heartless.

Irvine raced over and grabbed his gun skidding to a stop as he turned to fire at the heartless, but the heartless was quicker and laid out a good few exploding mines his way. Irvine cried out as he fell back and skidded a few feet back. Regaining his composure, after taking a few more blows, Irvine retaliated with his own gunfire. He got the beast to back off, but only momentarily, before it strike back with a blow of mines sending the sharp shooter to another area of which he didn't realized was the Castle Gate.

He leap back to his feet and reloaded, running out of normal ammo he switched to shotgun ammo and fired.  
Finally the Crimson Jazz vanished…

Irvine sighed in relief and feeling a bit proud of himself, even went as far as to do a winning battle pose, "Yeah, not so big now are ya?"

Though his triumph was short lived for a very familiar sound of a heartless appearing caught his attention and as he turned he noticed a Morning Star getting ready to attack as it was flanked by two Surveillance Robots.

Irvine swallowed hard before turning to fully face them and raising his gun to attack and fired, but his gun fired only once and stopped him from firing again, "What the—"

He was cut off by shots fired by the two Surveillance Robots. Quickly, he ran circles about then, attempting to avoid being attacked while he tried figure out why his gun wasn't firing. Opening the gun he saw a bullet logged within the barrel, "A Squib? Fuck!"

Annoyed by his discovery he accidentally stopped his diversion run long enough for the heartless to get another attack in. They sent him to the ground hard, and with the force his gun also took a blow to the ground.

Sitting up, with gun in hand, Irvine heard the sound of a small metal object hitting the ground. Turning he realized the impact had lodged the bullet out of the barrel. Ecstatic by this turn of luck, he quickly leap to his feet and Scatter Shot the enemies, succeeding in taking out the two Surveillance Robots.

Quickly he moved to reload his gun, confident this would end easily, now that he had the upper hand, when he realized, as he reached deeper into his pocket…he was out of ammo…

-oOo-

Far down the Ravine Trail Cloud leaned heavily back against a rock after a good ten or so rounds with the heartless. It was better to do battle down away from the areas the Claymores were active. It gave Cloud more of a challenge and he preferred fighting alone anyways.

He had completely cleared out the area around him so it was doubtless more heartless would come anytime soon, which gave him a chance to catch his breath. Normally he would do such intense rounds in his training to go after Sephiroth but today…his own frustrations were getting the better of him.

_Who the hell is that guy anyways?_

Cloud thought with annoyance.

_I don't see what's so special about a 6f guy who dresses…so eccentrically… _

Cloud could feel himself grinding his teeth.  
Why was Leon so interested in this guy from his past? Why…Why did he never look at _him_ that way?  
He was strong, independent, and _not_ annoying like the rest of their friends… Why wouldn't he look at him the way he looked at that beat up cowboy…Why wouldn't Leon ever notice _**him**_!

Cloud punched the wall he was leaning against and swallowed his anger as his hand throbbed.

_I've been the one who's been fighting by your side… I'm the one who has __**been here**__ with you!_

Cloud recalled the day of the Battle of 1000 Heartless…everyone had fought together with all their strength. Cloud fought alone until Leon and Cloud's paths crossed in battle, and immediately they moved back-to-back to partner up.

"_Think you can handle this many?"_ The brunet's voice rang in his ears

"_Well…" _he recalled responding with, _"Might be tough if one more shows up."_

He remembered the wave of heartless surrounding them, the heat of battle igniting within them, and yet they jested with each other.

"_Hm…" _he recalled how the brunet's voice made his body tremble, _"Then that'll have to be the one I take care of."_

And yet Leon also filled him with a rivalry he had never experienced before meeting him.

_"What, you're fighting too?"_

"HEEEELP!"

Cloud snapped out of his thoughts from a voice yelling in the distance. Running toward him… Cloud flinched; the person was being chased by a mob of heartless.

-oOo-

Irvine was running as fast as his legs could carry him, hoping the stupid Morning Star would just give up! But whether or not _that_ happened Irvine couldn't be sure…because the further he ran the **more heartless **would appear!

"Why the hell isn't that surveillance thing working? Hey Claymore! HELP!" he's breathing became more and more labored the more he ran. He had no idea where the hell he was or why the security device stopped working –or why he didn't have any more ammo!

"This sooo suuuucks!" beginning to run out of ideas or options, besides jumping off the ledge or hiding under his coat, Irvine was starting to get worried, until he noticed a figure in the distance.

_Is that another guy? _

"Hey! Hey!"

The person didn't seem to hear him. With renewed hope that maybe this person had a weapon on them, Irvine ran with the last of his strength for one final sprint, "HEEEELP!"

-oOo-

Cloud drew his sword, ready to take on the heartless until he noticed it was that auburn man whom was running at him, _What the…_

Cloud played with the thought of just taking off but the chance vanished faster than he could ponder over it as the auburn man collapsed at his feet, seeming to have tripped over his own, as he desperately took hold of Cloud's pant leg.

"H...Hey…Excuse me could you…" The auburn haired man looked up to find a familiar blonde glaring at him.

He only blinked and smiled in relief, "Oh Cloud! Thank Shiva!"

"Don't thank Shiva or Cosmos. Thank Chaos, because I'm not helping you." Cloud spat with venom, moving to leave.

"No you cant!" Irvine gripped his pants hard, refusing to release the other man.

Cloud turned, almost ready to stab the other man when two Morning Stars moved to attack the blonde. Cloud moved his sword up to block the moves and kicked the other man away, sending Irvine against a nearby wall of rock.

"Oww…" Irvine mumbled as his body throbbed in too many locations to count. After a moment he managed to look up and he saw the blonde in action and was taken aback by his speed and grace in battle. He was so efficient and calm and …cool.

Cloud took out all the heartless that have been chasing the auburn haired man, which appeared to have been about twelve, in very little time. Painting slightly, the blonde began to catch his breath, but was caught off guard by the sound of someone clapping.

He blinked and looked over to where the auburn haired man had gotten into a sitting position and was smiling with an idiotic looking grin on his face as he clapped happy for the blonde.

"…What the hell are you doing?" Cloud asked, irritated.

"That was amazing. You fought with so much style and just…you're amazing, Cloud!"

Cloud hated this man, he hated for so many reason,  
1. He was taking Leon  
2. He was annoying as all hell  
and now 3… he made him blush.

Annoyed, and trying to hide his flattery, he returned, "Yeah…Well you run like an idiot. But fast…" he thought about it for a moment and added, "Are you out here without a weapon?"

"Uh, no…" He smiled stupidly at the blond, nervously rubbing the back of his head, "I have my gun," He held up the weapon for Cloud to see.

"So why the hell weren't you using it?"

The auburn man frowned, "You didn't let me finish."

The man's eyes were so beautiful…they were almost purple…he really hated this man. Because he even was entrancing Cloud with his stupid striking eyes and lengthy-lithe body. No wonder Leon was fascinated by the man…

_He's glaring at me again…_ Irvine thought with a sigh and continued, "Well you see. I was using my gun and then I ran out of bullets…thus I ran."

Brought back by the other mans words Cloud looked at him even more aggravated, "To where? The middle of nowhere?"

"Honestly I have no idea where I am right now. Last I knew I was in the Bailey and then some Crimson Jazz attacked me…then did some other heartless…I fell, I ran out of bullets, I ran away…and then I found you." Irvine looked to the blonde a little helplessly, "Where are we?"

Cloud made a face and turned away from Irvine, "Where further down the Ravine Trail."

"_Ravine Trail_…" the auburn man repeated softly.

The blonde turned to see what he was doing and noticed the other man looked down at a piece of paper, "What's that?"

"A map Aerith drew for my to find the _Restoration Site_ and _Ansem's Study_…"

_He must be looking for Leon… _Cloud thought to himself, not sure if he should bother being anymore annoyed than he already was.

The auburn haired man looked to him sadly, "I don't see the _Ravine Trail _on here."

Cloud blinked and sighed, "Why should I help you?"

"Cause then you won't have to lead the way?" the man said with a smile, "Though I wouldn't mind…oh!" the auburn man stopped suddenly and got to his feet and began to dust off his clothes.

Cloud looked to him strangely as he did so. Irvine smiled when he finished and offered his hand to Cloud, who only looked at it funny.

"Irvine Kinneas, I didn't get to meet you last night."

Cloud only raised an eyebrow at him, "And? …You obviously already know my name…"

The man frowned and lowered his hand, "Yes I guess that's true, I suppose…I guess I just wanted to start over with you."

"Start over? Nothing between us ever began."

Irvine blinked and then responded, "But …I did something to upset you last night…I'm sorry for intruding into your home."

Cloud unsure what to say, fumbled for words, "That part…I don't care about…Aerith brought you there. You didn't just _show up_."

"Oh…" The auburn haired man responded, seeming to be at a loss, "Then…was it…"

Irvine thought back to that night, to when he had first woken-up. The blonde was there then wasn't he? Yes…because he left after Squ-Leon…after _he_ came home and it was when…

Realization lit up in the auburn haired man's eyes and he blushed scarlet, he kept his eyes down as he asked, "It…was Squall…wasn't it?" he looked up to see the blonde who began to turn a shade of red and his eyes grew wide.

Cloud turned away from Irvine, "It had nothing to do with him…"

"But…it _has_ to! You left after he…after he…did _that_! S-so that only means…you either don't like PDA or…" Irvine's eyes widened as he looked to the petite blonde's back. "Cloud you…"

The blonde looked to him, expression guarded, but Irvine recognized something in his eyes.

"What is it?" he asked, his guard was up, but Irvine could see right through it now. Because looking at Cloud was like looking in the mirror for him years ago when it came to Rinoa…

His crystal eyes were swirling in emotions and colors. He was hurting, he couldn't seem to settle a single emotion onto Irvine, he blushed when he brought up Squall, and he wanted nothing to do with Irvine to the extent he wouldn't even point him in the right direction. He irreverently and unexplainably hated Irvine with no true reason...unless...

"You…You're in love with Squall."


	4. Chapter 4: Alikeness

Thank you everyone who have reviewed/followed this story so far. And I apologize for my lack of updates.

I would also like to thank Is-Simple for their review which gave me some ideas for the stories future.

Here is chapter 4 (sorry its a little short. I hope to write more after I finish my papers tomorrow).

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 4: Alikeness

"_Irvine why don't you come with us?"_

_The auburn haired man looked up to the raven haired woman, coming out of his bitter thoughts, "What?"_

"_Squall told me you had wanted to go out with him somewhere today but the jerk refused to mention it to me until after he told you about our plans and you left the cafeteria."_

"_Uh…right…" if only she knew what he really had planned…she wouldn't be feeling so bad for him right now. If she knew what they had already been doing for days, months, she wouldn't be saying this now. But she didn't and he wasn't planning on telling her anytime soon. And why would he? It wasn't like squall would choose him over Rinoa. Not in a million years. This would be all he could have of the brunet; stolen kisses and meetings in the dark…_

"_Irvine?"_

_He looked up to see confusion growing in her expression along with something else. Was it concern? He wanted to laugh in the wrongness of it all. Then, as if to complete the picture, Squall emerged, wrapping an arm around Rinoa's waist, looking between the two of them, blind to the pain he was causing the cowboy. _

"_Are we going?" he asked simply, to her of course._

_She looked from him to Irvine, who could only turn away. To keep from breaking…_

"_**Hey!"**_

Irvine was torn back to the present by a particular blonde yelling at him. Then forced back into his own body by a swift kick to the side, causing him to fall to his side and look up to the blonde in shock, mostly of being brought back to the present so suddenly.

"What the hell's wrong with you?" the blonde question, gazed mixed somewhere between confusion and unease.

Realizing he must have done something to make the blonde feel so, he tried to quickly remedy the situation, "I'm sorry, what did I—"

"You're wrong you know—About Leon, I don't love him. That's just- No, you're wrong. And why would you go and say something like that when you're …And why the hell did you just _blank_ out all of a sudden and fall to your knees?! You weren't even responding to me? What's wrong with you? If Leon—"

"Wait…" Irvine had to stop him before he got anymore lost. What had happened before this? What had he done?

_"You…You're in love with Squall."_

His eyes widened with realization. He had actually _said_ those words to the blonde and then…then he must have fallen into the past…

So strange…he really thought he was there in that room with Rinoa…it had felt so real…

"You're doing it again. Come back!" The swift kicked the auburn haired man back to the ground of which he had just gathered himself up from only a moment before.

Irvine blinked and quickly got to his feet. He didn't feel right. He wasn't in right mind. Perhaps the heartless hit him a little too hard earlier…

"Okay, okay! I'm here! Sorry…I can't explain what happened, but I'm sorry for startling you—"

"I wasn't worried about _you_."

Irvine blinked for a moment, watching the crystal eyes glower at him under the soft blonde locks. It was like looking into a mirror from the past. Irvine couldn't help but laugh, though it sounded genuine, it was laced in the burning pain he had held within himself from all those years ago…

"_What_ is so funny?" The blonde demanded.

Coming back to the present, Irvine gathered himself, "I'm sorry," after he took a breath he continued, "Really. But yeah about before, you don't seem ready to talk about it, so forget what I said before." Irvine dusted off his khaki pants and rested the hand holding his faithful gun over his shoulder as he turned to a dumbfounded blonde.

"So, if you could direct me in the direction of the Bailey I'm sure I can find my way from there." Irvine threw on the most charming smile he could, hoping to make the blonde feel a little less like killing him and more keen to help him find his way.

After the blonde seemed to recover from his confusion, shaking his head, he looked to the auburn haired man with an enervated expression and sighed, "You can't make it on your own, you have no ammunition."

"But we took care of all the heartless in this area right?" Irvine tried to reassure the blonde.

Though Cloud just looked back to the other annoyed, "Yeah, but there is most likely more back up by the Bailey by now and the Claymore may not take out all the enemies along the way."

"It's alright. I can run." The auburn haired man said with a smile. Pathetic sounding but hey, bullets weren't exactly going to be raining out of the sky for him and he highly doubted the blonde wanted to be bothered with his presence any longer than needed. He didn't blame the blonde for this either. He understood. And that was why he wanted to go off on his own.

"You're hurt." The blonde said simply…perhaps a little despondently?

Irvine took that moment to feel out his own body and realized he did feel a little weak. Those heartless did a number on him. He felt fine mostly besides a good gash on his side and his leg throbbed enough to slow down his running. But he was sure he would make it through fine since—, "I've been worse off than this."

Irvine wasn't looking to the blonde, but to the ground now, remembering all the old wounds and pains he suffered through, all those years he was on his own. Not a soul around to help, but so many ready to end him if he stood around long enough.

The blonde noticed a sad smile creeping onto the auburn hairs man's face. His eyes looked so haunted. They shouldn't look that way, the blonde decided; the eyes of this man should not ever be so dark. Those beautiful purple-blue eyes should only be alive with joy.

Irvine felt something bonk him on the head, shattering as it hit him. A blue-green glow enveloped him for a moment and, before he realized it, much of his pain had dissipated as a blue-green glow faded. He looked to the blonde confused.

Cloud closed the distance between them and placed a Hi-Potion into the others hand, "If you insist on going on your own, then at least take this with you."

Irvine eyed the item naively before looking back to the blonde, "Is this what you just used on me? What is it?"

Cloud frowned, "It's a Hi-Potion. You…you've never used one?"

Irvine shook his head as he looked back to the item, eyeing it, completely captivated by it, "The place I was before—"

For a moment he was there, in the dark glow of the neon lights that lit Dark City. He was bleeding, alone, and, as always, hiding, bracing for the next encounter with death, which seemed to never cease its looming.

He smiled weakly, "It was near impossible to come across even simple tools for healing. I was lucky to find a thread and a needle to sow shut my gaping wounds or bandages to wrap the others less server wounds…"

He looked up the blonde, who appeared shell-shocked, "I haven't used potions since I was back in my own world... and this," holding up the Hi-Potion Cloud had just given him, "Is a little different looking than ours…"

Irvine lost himself in thoughts of his own world and the Dark City he was in so long, before gathering his thoughts and looking to the blonde and giving him a small smile, the best he could manage with the dark memories dwelling within his mind, "Thank you, Cloud. I'll repay you for this. I swear."

Before the blonde could respond, the auburn haired man began walking away.

"Hey…you don't know where you're going!" the blonde called after him, after recovering enough to do so.

The man turned back and smiled at the blonde, purple eyes swirling in an unreadable expression that caused the blonde's heart to squeeze painfully.

"It's ok. I realize I just need to back track now that I think about it. From there I have the map. I'll be fine on my own."

With that the auburn haired man turned and continued in the direction he had come.

The blonde couldn't help but feel awestruck by all that had passed between the two. Initially he had hated the man but now, after only hearing the little he had said about the world he had left and recalling all the healing that had come about just the day before accompanied by the bloodcurdling scream the other male had released through the process…

After revisiting all he has learned in this short time he realized he knew absolutely nothing about this man. He had thought he was just love-sick skunk after Leon but now...now he knows that's not it. He must have been alone for a long time…fighting all alone…

He must have thought all his friends were dead. Cloud wondered how he managed all this time…completely alone. Not knowing if his world still existed or anyone he loved for that matter…

Cloud realized he couldn't hate this man now. Not with the little he has already learned about him. He felt the man deserved some of his respect, though he still loathed him for being with Leon in ways he could only imagine and have haunting dreams of.

No he couldn't leave things the way they were nor could he hate or kill this man Leon so cared for.

He was beginning to see a little of perhaps the brunet saw in the auburn hair cowboy. But he hoped he could still find a way to be with the brunet even with the auburn haired man's presence. Even if the auburn haired man still was with Leon.

Even if it hurt this man he was beginning to feel drawn towards.

* * *

Please review to tell me your thoughts.

I hope you enjoyed! Next chapter will continue from here (just bring us back with Irvi) Take care!


	5. Chapter 5: Fortitude

Thanks to Is-Simple for the review on the last chapter and for more ideas. :) Always appreciated.

Now onto chapter 5, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 5: Fortitude

Irvine had made it through the Bailey, doing so by blatantly running through it, allowing the Claymores to take out what they could. Then coming up to the Restoration Site he resumed the pace of running he had before, assuming the number of heartless would be about the same.

Initially spawning was a Morning Star along with a few Surveillance Robots, _no biggy_, he thought, as he ran past them rather quickly. Then a bit further about three Armored Knights appeared, the auburn haired man felt a little uneasy but assumed they would, too, fall behind. Until he ran another five feet to have two more Armored Knights appear. He froze temporarily as they blocked his path, which gave the Morning Star enough time to catch up and knock Irvine off to the side causing him to hit the rock walls of the Restoration Site.

He flinched from the contact he made with the rough rock and looked up to see the diminutive mob before him, swarming, ready to attack. Irvine smirked, _no more running I guess_, he thought briefly before standing, readying for the attack.

Just as he gained his footing he had to duck out of the way of a Surveillance Robot that was just about ready to take out his head had he left it there a moment longer. Regaining composure, Irvine looked to his gun _Valiant_ which he held in his hand loosely while examining it for a brief moment.

"Sorry Vally, I know you don't care for this use too much." He stated to his gun before twirling it in the air and finally gripping it securely within his hand. Darting forward he met head on with his foes and commenced in hitting his targets with an overhand strike with the side of his gun.

Though of course, with so many on him, pistol whipping wasn't enough. He began drop kicking the smaller heartless out of the way while focusing the blunt of his attacks on the Morning Stars, now two since another spawned since he moved in to attack.

Defeating both Morning Stars and a few Surveillance Bots, Irvine decided to leave the rest up to the Claymores as he turned and began making his way up to the Postern. Not that he was worried about the few heartless left would overpower him, he just knew better. No reason to waste his energy on the weak ones, especially if someone else was willing to take care of them. No, he had to conserve his energy for whatever may be next. He wasn't afraid of heartless. He knew there were stronger and much more malevolent beings out there besides the two-dimensional heartless. Those were the ones he made sure to always be prepared for.

Not that he expected to find anyone like that here in Radiant Garden. From what Squall had told him it, the town had been relatively peaceful lately, so he shouldn't be worried too much about coming out and exploring.

Though he should have known better, coming to the end of town it would be less secure, he realized as he noticed a cloaked figure in the middle of the Postern. Quickly, Irvine moved behind a nearby large metal tube and watched the figure from a distance, trying to calm himself.

_There's no way it could be one of __**them**__. There's just no way it…  
_  
The cloaked figure pulled down his hood and when Irvine saw the long black hair, streaked with grey, pulled back into a low pony tail, dread began to fill in his gut.

_Not him…_

Irvine watched him for a long moment. The cloaked figure seemed to be nothing more than surveying the scenery but Irvine knew better. That man and his comrades were always up to something. But what, Irvine never knew…

Too many times had he crossed paths with the likes of them in Dark City, especially _him_. Even without him turning around, Irvine could see the grotesque scare running up the left side of his face, the eye patch covering the right eye , leaving only one yellow cat-like eye that promised almost as much pain as his smirk did. He would never tell Irvine his name, no matter how times they crossed paths and fought. Only once had he told him anything close to a name…

"_Just call me a mercenary of death. Your death at it would be. Someday. You can't escape me forever, though I admire your spirit." He laughed tauntingly, wiping the blood from his dagger like weapon, Irvine's blood._

_The weapon wasn't meant for hand-to-hand fighting but the man seemed to enjoy plugging his weapon into his gut when the opportunity arose. No, his weapon was something like a gun except it shot dagger-like lasers that were much more powerful than the ammunition Irvine usually came by. _

How he managed to live through every encounter was a blessing in itself, or just dumb luck.

Irvine looked to the ground, trying to think of a plan. Sit and wait? Perhaps the cloaked man will simply vanish. Sneak attack? With no ammo and one potion odds aren't in his best favor, though getting the shock factor in would gain to his advantage. But then before Irvine could finish his planning a familiar voice broke through his thoughts and his cover.

"Really? You're spacing out _again_?"

Irvine looked up to find the blonde coming up the slight incline from the Restoration Site to the Postern, to where he was. Eyes widening he looked to find the scarred man's face turning to Cloud. He still hadn't noticed Irvine. Cloud still hadn't noticed the dagger-man.

Knowing the man was about to attack, Irvine rushed Cloud against the wall, tackling him behind a pipe.

"What are you doing?!" trying to fight Irvine off, the blonde caught the auburn haired man's right hand that was slickly-moist. Looking he noticed the blood raining down from the knuckles, "You're bleeding."

Irvine took half a second to look to his own hand and notice the knuckles bleeding, he realized it must have happened when he was pistol whipping the heartless earlier but took no more notice to it and quickly looked back to Cloud.

"Shh! Don't—" before Irvine could finished he heard a familiar _zing_ in the air and moved quickly to block the shots with his gun.

Cloud could only blink initially, surprised by the auburn haired man's speed.

"Oh." stated the cloaked man excitedly, "Oh, oh, who do we have here? The gunman from Dark City. I am so _happy_ to see you," he said menacingly, "I was so _dreadfully_ sad when you vanished suddenly in our last meeting." The man's catlike eye flickered with pleasure.

Irvine could feel his stomach tighten from the others words. There was a cold sweat coming onto him as his fear rose, but he refused to show it. Instead he stood straight, lowering his gun, and glared at his enemy.

Before either could make their first move, the blonde emerged from behind Irvine, sword in hand, charging their foe. The man was quicker than Cloud though, warping out of sight and reappearing here and then there, mocking the blonde. But then the man miscalculated and the blonde got a hit in, sinking his sword deep into the cloaked man's shoulder. Shocked by the hit, the man levitated high off the ground, out of the blonde's reach.

"What is an Organization XIII member doing here?" Cloud half asked the man, half himself.

Irvine's brows furrowed at the blonde's words. Organization XIII? What was that?

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know." The man said tauntingly to the blonde.

"Enough! I don't care why you are here or what you want. Either get down here and fight me, or get lost!" the blonde demanded fiercely.

"Heh, I believe I was just given an ultimatum." the man smirked, "Well, I suppose I will have to oblige."

With that the cloaked man quickly whipped out his arrowguns and began firing at Cloud.

Cloud dived out of the way and blocked the remaining attacks with his sword.

The man only smirked and followed the blonde to the ground, constantly firing, backing up only to dodge Cloud's offensive attacks, and then moving in attempting to corner the blonde.

Cloud held his ground but once he landed a blow to the man's opposing arm the man became furious. Cloud swung again to strike the man, who in turn took the moment Cloud swung his sword back to shoot Cloud through the wrists.

Irvine winced at the blow. The man always did fight dirty.

Cloud dropped his sword and cried out in pain. The man began to move in on Cloud to take advantage of his vulnerable state-when he received a rough crack to the head with something metal.

Stumbling back, grasping at his head, he looked up to find the gunman standing before the blonde, gun drawn in an offensive manner, pistol pointed at the cloaked man's face.

"Back. Off." came the steady, venomous words from the auburn haired man's mouth.

"And _why_ would I do _that?"_ Asked the cloaked man.

Irvine clicked his gun in place and made as if steadying himself for a shot before quickly moving forward and again pistol whipped the man roughly over the head. Before the man could recover Irvine quickly shifted his weight and swiftly kicked the other man in the gut, taking him to the ground. Before Irvine could make his next move, the other man had vanished and appeared behind him, grasping him by his long jacket so he couldn't turnaround. Then a voice from the past began to echo through his head, apprising him.

_"Don't forget what I told you, Irvine." _

Quickly, Irvine, in one movement, lifted his arms and dropped out of his coat.

_"Never stop to think. Just move. Don't stop moving."_

Without breaking rhythm, Irvine placed his hands to the ground for support as he spun out and then kicked out the legs of the opposing man. But the other had already vanished to just a foot away from his initial position. He grasped Irvine's ankle, the foot he had made to strike with.

_"And don't be afraid to fight dirty in a real life-or-death battle. Just, save it for then, and not for practice with me, ok?" the blonde added with a smile, causing the tattoo on his face to shift with the expression._

Quickly he moved his other foot to connect with the other the man's groin. The man groaned and slumped slightly. Irvine used the moment to try and get back to his feet. But just when he turned to try and locate _Valiant _which he had dropped when slipping out of his jacket. It turned out to be the wrong call as the cloaked man took the moment to tackle him back to the ground using one of his arrowguns to pin him down by stabbing it through his shoulder. Irvine groaned as he felt the weapon pierce through his body.

"Not a good move, pretty boy. Now you just pissed me off." the cloaked man said while glowering at him, raising his other arrowgun to his head, getting ready to shoot.

_"Even when it seems hopeless. If you're stuck and don't see a way out, then stop and think. There is always a way out. Never lose hope."_

Irvine realized the man had only pinned down one of his arms with his knee, and that was the one without the weapon stabbing through the connected shoulder. Bracing himself he cried out and he lifted the stabbed arm to grip the opposing weapon that was holding him down, tearing it out of his arm. The man was shocked and fired without warning. Luckily the auburn haired man moved just enough with the fire only grazed his turned forehead. The gunman turned to the cloaked man and smiled darkly. Using the shock on the cloaked man's face to push the bloodstained weapon away and punching the man in the face, forcing him off of him.

"Irvine!"

Irvine turned to see _Valiant_ come flying through the air and he caught it with his right hand and looked to notice it was Cloud who had thrown him his gun. Currently he seemed to be trying to regain his footing though his wrists were proving to make his hands useless. Quickly, Irvine grabbed the Hi-Potion from his pocket and tossed it at Cloud, succeeding to stick him with hard enough for the potion to shatter and envelope the blonde in the blue-green light. Irvine smiled when he saw the blonde capable of lifting his sword again but then noticed the look on the blondes face go from relief to looking beyond Irvine with a look warning Irvine to turn back around. Just out of the corner of his eyes he caught too late a shot had been fired from the cloaked man. He side stepped as much a he could which allowed the shot to only graze the left side of his body, but without his coat the cuts ran deeper than Irvine would have cared for. He couldn't afford to be slowed down. Not when the other man seemed so close to back out.

Cloud looked to the auburn man shocked, wondering how he was still standing. From where he was standing he could see the blood dripping out of his right shoulder from when the other had stabbed him through with deadly looking weapon. He was shocked with the man was still able to function with the arm enough to actually catch his gun with the right hand, his shooting hand. Now with that shoulder damaged and his knuckles continuing to poor blood, and now his left side bleeding as well, but the damage he could not see with the purple vest covering them, he wondered how much longer the other would last. He couldn't believe he had lasted this long.

"Cloud! Are you ready?"

Cloud looked up, but the auburn man wasn't looking at him, "What?"

"Are you ready?" the man asked again, turning to the blonde, with a smirk lighting up even his purple eyes.

Cloud realized the man had a plan, and cloud slowly nodded at first with realization before getting into a battle stance, "Yes."

Irvine turned back to the cloaked man who was eyeing them strangely before smirking himself, "The little gunman has a plan? Let's see how well it plays out for you," he said, taking a stance with his guns, "Shall we?"

The cloaked man charged Irvine from his spot about five feet from the ground and slanting to the ground while persisting in his attack. Irvine in turn held his ground, blocking the majority of the shot with his gun, though with the strength in his arm lessening, more and more shots seeped through his defense striking his body at random intervals. He braced himself, waiting, waiting for the other man to get close enough into range. And then he yelled, "Now Cloud!"

The cloaked man glanced to the blonde who seemed about to charge him and then back to the auburn man he was currently attacking to find the man had switch hands with his gun, though the next thing he felt was the strike of metal against his head and then his collision with the ground.

Quickly he got to his feet just quick enough to block the blonde's attack. Feeling another presence close behind him, turn and found the other trying to strike him again with the gun, thus the cloaked man quickly moved and punched the auburn haired man in the gut with his weapon, then as he impacted him moved his weapon at an angle as he pulled it back, making sure to cut the other by the contact. He moved again to block the blonde's attack and then out of nowhere felt another metal weapon strike him and shoot him in the same moment. He hit the ground hard and quickly ported a good twenty feet in the air to get his bearings and found below him not only the blonde and auburn haired man but another. A brunette had joined them.

"Heh," he tried to smirk though his pain, "Three against one? That's not very fair." He winced, "I suppose it means my fun is over. For now."

And with that he vanished.

Irvine, whom had been on the ground from the last blow he received, smiled weakly at the spot the cloaked man had vanished from and closed his eyes, "Good riddance."

"Irvine, are you ok?!"

Irvine's eyebrows furrowed at the different voice and open his eyes to find Squall er Leon? Coming to his side. He smiled, "I'm fine. A little tried. You know you should check on Cloud too. Have Aerith look at his wrists, I don't believe a potion can fully fix that damage—"

"Look at you! Why are you worrying about my wrists when you bleeding everywhere!?"

Blinking his eyes open Irvine looked to find it wasn't Squall but the blonde yelling at him. He cocked his head slightly at the blonde before smiling, "Because you're my ally and you need your wrists to use your sword. Thank you for the help back there. And I'm fine. None of these wounds are life threatening. I'm just taking a little break down here 'til I feel ready to get up." With that he rested his head back and closed his eyes.

"Please don't close your eyes…can I pick you up?" the brunet asked gently.

Irvine opened his eyes, "I rather you didn't. I'm a little soar. Give me a minute. I can stand on my own."

"Don't be stupid…you shouldn't be walking around like that."

Surprised, the auburn haired man looked over to find it was indeed the blonde speaking to him again.

He smile, "Hey are you _worried_ at _me_?"

The blonde rolled his eyes and blushed.

Irvine smiled, "Maybe we can work the whole becoming friends thing?"

"Don't dream on it." The blonde mumbled, refusing to look at him.

The brunette looked utterly confused, "Irvine, why are you joking around. You're seriously hurt. What happened?" He turned and looked to the blonde for an answer since it seemed all Irvine wanted to do was jest about the whole incident.

Noticing the brunette's stare the blonde sighed and proceeded to tell him of the incidents, "I ran into him when he was trying to find you. He was out of ammo and was running from heartless—"

"You went out without any ammo?!" he scolded the auburn haired man.

Irvine shrugged weakly, "I ran out. Shoot me." He smirked at his own joke, but the brunette found nothing funny about it. He looked back to the blonde.

Cloud continued, "After I got rid of the heartless he wanted to go on his own to find you. I followed him here and that guy," pointing to the sky where they had all last seen the cloaked man before he had vanished, "showed up. We fought. You showed up. He left."

"You forgot the part on how cool we looked while fighting. C'mon Cloud. Tell him about the ass we kicked." Irvine said from his position on the ground, smirking.

Despite himself, Cloud let out a small chuckle.

"We should really get you back, Irvine." The brunet insisted.

"Oh, alright." Irvine side and sat up, wincing, and allowed the brunet, and surprisingly the blonde as well, help him to his feet.

"Let me carry you." The brunet insisted.

"No. Let me walk. You can help me though." Irvine looked to the side of him Cloud was holding up, "I wouldn't mind you helping too." He wanted to joke with it and smirk but instead ended up giving the blonde a warm smile.

Cloud blushed at the warmth from the smile and the beautiful purple eyes and just turned away from him and continued to help Leon carry the auburn haired man.

"Did you bring any potions, Leon? We should probably give him one." The blonde asked.

"…"

"You didn't bring any did you?" the blonde asked again.

The brunet looked down, ashamed.

Cloud sighed, "You know, considering the fit you have on anyone else about carrying potions…never mind." Cloud smiled to himself and he look to find Irvine smiling to him as well. He must have heard about the brunette's lectures from Aerith.

"Forget it. Let's just get back." The brunet finally spoke. The blonde and the cowboy decided to let the topic drop as they walked back to Merlin's while the sky began to paint itself red…

* * *

Thanks for reading! Let me know any thoughts you have. See you soon.


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